Statement by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd on the move to drop his books from the M. Forgotten in this debate is the role of academics itself. The iconic translation allows an exact copy of a text, the indexical forges the essentials but fills in its own cultural particularities, while the third is symbolic—the apparent frame is used to subvert or create a completely different text. When he still resists the idea, she is furious. Oxford University Press, Renu Bala, another dissenting AC member.

Ramanujan specifically prefers the term “tellings” to the usual terms “versions” and “variants” because the latter terms can and do imply the existence of an invariant original text. The essay that the Delhi University does not want its history students to read. When I studied history as an undergraduate in Delhi University in the mids, A. The Academic Council usually leaves it to the department to decide the academic merit, and it accepts the expert’s recommendations. Sita argues with him. The scholarly essay by A. The following are some of the sources that discuss the implications of the removal of the essay from the curriculum:.

Sunday 27 November However, Ramanujan considers only five tellings of Ramayana, namely, the tellings by ValmikiKambanthe Jain telling, the Thai Ramakien and the South Indian folk tellings. Many later versions of the Ramayana take inspiration and draw from previous versions.

Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation – Wikipedia

Jain Ramayanas are full of Jain homilies and legends, and presents Rama as an evolved Jain man who does not even kill Ravana. The essay that the Delhi University does not want its history students to read. Archives on DU Council ignored opinion of three experts.

Then, if they so choose, they become teachers themselves and pass that knowledge on to others. University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the AC only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.

Three out of the four members of the committee stated that the essay ought to be read by students. That it is a matter of concern that popular beliefs and prevailing traditions of Hindu Culture are projected in distorted manner.

Statement by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd on the move to drop his books from the M. The 16 Dec Massacre in a Peshawar school ramayanae statements from gamanujan rights groups, media commentary and editorials Fast Track to Troubling Times: But the resolution of the AC is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.

Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus

Their press release also asks “Whether the same historians will recommend a narrative by Salman Rushdie as a compulsory text for the study of the Quran or Islam? Ramanujan narrates one of his favourite passages from the sixteenth century Adhyatma Ramayana — “When Rama is exiled, he does not want Sita to go with him into the forest. Even the expert committee was, after all, rramanujan of historians. Submit Please enter a valid email address.

Especially when doing so would suggest, whether the academic council intended this or not, that the university had caved in to violent intimidation.

In case anyone has missed the point, the essay in question is not a pamphlet written by a provocateur: My department had many distinguished historians who happened to esaay Muslim, but not one of them was crass enough to suggest that my being non-Muslim rendered me eamayanas to teach that course. But this end brings home to Hanuman, the ever faithful bhakta of Rama, that there is no one Rama, there are many Ramas, and no single Ramayana but many Ramayanas.

The issue ended up in the Supreme Rajanujan which wanted the opinion of an academic expert committee. Instead of pandering to unreason, the university should be true to itself, stand its ground and reinstate Ramanujan. Many of these tellings vary from, or even contrast with, the Valmiki Ramayana most Indians are familiar with.

Three hundred Ramayanas – Delhi University and the purging of Ramanujan

This has, in turn, given rise to the culture of intolerance and a purported right to ‘take offense’. There are more than 25 different tellings of the Ramayana in Sanskrit alone. In some Jain tellings, the story has shades of what psychoanalysts refer to as the Elektra-complex, where Sita is his daughter, though Ravana is ramayanss aware of this.

The history department teachers, of course, refused to comply. The erosion of free speech in India has happened over a period of time, as one institution after another has chosen to give in to the demands of extremist sections or to the threat of gamanujan. Ramanujan specifically prefers the term “tellings” to the usual terms “versions” and “variants” because the latter terms can and do imply the existence of an invariant original text.

Singh is a well-respected academic from the Maths Department, who took on the unenviable task of stepping in after his predecessor, Deepak Pental, had steamrolled in the semester system, ignoring widespread protests across University.

Three hundred Ramayanas – Delhi University and the purging of Ramanujan

The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Slogans like “Historical inquiry pe attack nahi sahenge ” rent the air, while various placards called for people to resist the saffronisation of higher education and to oppose the policing of academia. When I studied history as an undergraduate in Delhi University in the mids, A.